Chapter Six - Blood
1018 Words
“This bond cannot proceed.”
Alpha Dominic’s voice replays in my head. Repeatedly.
I’m still on the ground. Still trying to gather myself together. Still trying to hide myself in my now tattered clothes. The shift - failed shift - left me in excruciating pain. My body feels like it’s been torn apart and put back messily.
Aunt Marren pushes through the crowd. Strips off her shawl. Wraps it around me.
Kael starts. “Father…”
“LOOK AT HER.” Alpha Dominic’s voice booms across the clearing. “That’s is not a shift, my son. That is…that is an abomination of a living thing.”
“Father, please.” Kael’s voice cracks a bit. “The bond is real. She just…she needs time. She’ll shift.”
Everyone’s staring at me.
“Time?” Alpha Dominic replies. “Twenty-three years is enough time for any normal wolf to have shifted not once or twice.” He looks at me. “What can she show for it? This is beyond shifting now. She is a common w***e selling herself cheaply to those pathetic humans. I always knew there was something sinister about SilverPine. Wolves should never coexist with humans else they’ll corrupt them.”
“I didn’t…it’s not what it looks like.” My voice is shaking.
“Then what is it like?” Alpha Dominic’s body language has moved to fury now. Like he’s now just realizing something.
The screen is still showing the screenshots and my voice is still playing in the background. What Alpha Dominic is saying might actually be true. I may just be a cheap w***e selling herself to humans in the guise of being seen. It hurts. I begin to sob against Aunt Marren’s chest.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” she rubs my head.
I turn to look at Kael.
He steps back. Then steps even further away. Like he’s seen a ghost. His face now somewhere between disgust and betrayal.
“Would you bind yourself to that?” Alpha Dominic gestures condescendingly toward me.
Kael is shaking his head as if he’s trying to process everything.
“Luna, the account, the messages, why would you -“
“It’s not what it seems, I promise.” My voice manages to stay consistent. “It had nothing to do with us…”
“Everything you do reflects on this pack.” Alpha Dominic cuts me off. “On my son. On me. You did not think it would matter?”
I don’t answer. Don’t know what to say. Just lie in Aunt Marren’s arm, bleeding. Feeling pain as if I’d just been ran over.
My father stands from his seat. Clears his throat.
“Luna, ever since you were born, I’ve always prayed for this day. Always prayed for you to finally shift. Even when everyone convinced me you wouldn’t, I still believed. Still had faith. But now,” he pauses. “Now I don’t know what to do anymore. I don’t recognise who you are anymore. This is not the Luna I raised. I did not raise a weak shameless online whore.” His voice grows louder. Clear enough that everybody can hear.
“This is not my daughter.” His face goes cold. “I don’t know what that thing is but she’s not my daughter. I publicly disown her. As of this moment, she’s no longer a Veiga. No longer my blood.”
The world turns upside down. My head is full.
No.
No no no no.
“Dad, please,” my voice trembles. “Please, I beg you…”
I start sobbing. Heavily. “Why?” I turn to Aunt Marren, tears full in my eyes. “Why me, Aunty? What did I do to deserve this? Why would anybody choose to humiliate me like this on my biggest night?”
She doesn’t have the answers. “I’m sorry, honey. You’ll come out of this stronger. Everything you’ve passed through will only make you stronger. I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” She hugs me closer.
When I turn around, my dad is already walking down the aisle. Away from me.
He’s not looking back.
“Luna. I can’t…my father’s right. This isn’t…” can’t find the words. “We’ll need to postpone it. Until you can shift properly. Until we can understand what -“
“You’re rejecting me?” I ask, voice shaking. Tears welling up in my eyes.
“I’m choosing my pack. I have to. I’m sorry.”
I look at him and start noticing a pattern he’s been exhibiting since we met.
He’s weak. He’ll always choose his father’s approval over me. All he wants to do is prove to Alpha Dominic that he’s made the “right” choice.
“You’re a coward.” I whisper.
His face reacts. “What did you say?”
I’ve got nothing to loose. I don’t back down.
“You stood there and let your father call me all sorts of names. Stood around and watched how everyone humiliated me. Watched my own father disown me and you said nothing.” My voice is stronger now. Fuelled by something beyond pain. “You’re not choosing your pack. You’re choosing not to stand up to your father.”
“ENOUGH!” Alpha Dominic’s voice booms across the clearing. “You have embarrassed this pack and this ceremony long enough.”
He signals the guards. Two heavily built wolves move forward. Grab me by the arms. Pull me to my feet.
“Miss Veiga,” Alpha Dominic continues. “You’re in no condition to leave. You’ll stay here until we determine what to do with you.”
“And before you say anything,” Alpha Dominic quickly adds. “I am allowed to do whatever it takes to protect my pack from threats.” His eyes lock onto mine. “That shift was not normal. Neither was having a page where you sell your body for cheap human validation. Until I understand everything that has just happened, she remains in Ironfang.”
Final.
“Take her to the east wing.”
- Writer
